Sweet Nothing
by ChaseUC
Summary: Fox changed. He turned into a physical wreck fueled by alcohol. All because of Krystal. He had no one to love anymore. He wanted to finally get back to her. But not everything will go as he planned. His whole life will go downhill. All because of love. Rated T for violence/blood and occasional use of profanity.
1. Little Talks

**Hey everyone, new writter here! This is my first try at writting a story and I really hope it turns out good! Took me a day to write this, kinda rushed, I guess, but ****I'll let you guys give me opinions on that.****  
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**Special thanks goes to Jedelas for Beta-reading this and helping me fix the spelling/grammar mistakes. :D  
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**Hope you enjoy the story!****  
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**DISCLAIMER NOTE: I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE STAR FOX CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFIC.  
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* * *

**Sweet Nothing  
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**Chapter 1 - Little Talks  
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A forgotten hero, wandering around the city in dirty wet clothes and a tired look on his face. It's been a while since he left the Great Fox. Months, but it seemed like years to him. Years since he last felt her lips. Time had changed. She's now with Panther, continuing her life with him as a couple.. It's one of those facts that'd hurt him more than anything else, knowing that the vixen he loved was now in someone else's arms...

He still had hope he would see her again, to have her back in his life just one more time. But all that seemed impossible to him now. He'd lost her forever. He had no one to love, no one to talk to.

Nothing. Sweet nothing.

* * *

It was dark. The clouds filled the sky. Small droplets of rain fell. No one was seen in the wet streets. No one except for Fox McCloud. Someone who was cherished and loved. A famous hero who turned into a physical wreck with an alcohol-filled life. Broken hearted, he used to go on long walks around the city, thinking about something. No one knows what. Still walking through the rain, he noticed a bar. "Citadella". He decided to enter the bar since he had nothing better to do and knowing that staying outside in the rain would be pointless.

He approached the bar, first noticing the old wooden door with a gold-colored knob. He opened it, hearing a loud screech as the old wooden door slowly opened. The bar was full of people. Everyone kept talking loudly, some even shouting at each other. The smell of alcohol and cigarettes was strong. To the point that it made him cough loudly.

Making his way to the bartender, he noticed everyone in the bar looking at him. It made him feel uncomfortable, knowing how old and tired he looked for his age. He felt fear. If any of those drunk fools decided to attack him, he wouldn't stand a chance. There wasn't any reason to attack him, but he still felt like he'd get to the bartender in bruises and a bloody nose.

Passing by a table, he felt someone grabbing and pulling his sleeve. He turned around only to see an old wolf with grey fur and a small black hat on his head looking at him with big, blue eyes.

"Heya son, ya seem kinda familiar... ya happen' to be that... Cloud guy?". The old wolf asked him curiously with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Fox McCloud? Yeah, that's me..." He felt ashamed to admit that, he didn't know what the old wolf would think about him.

"Ey, you look different tha' on TV... you look like you just got out of a brothel, boy". The old wolf started laughing, enjoying Fox's embarrassment.

Fox tried to get away from him, hiding his blushing face, but the old wolf grabbed his ruined jacket firmly in his grasp.

"Let me go!", he shouted, but the wolf grabbed his hand and pulled him closer.

"Relax, I don't bite, at least not with these teeth," the wolf said in a more serious voice. "What happen' to ya, son? You wer' a hero once, now you're nobody!" The old wolf blurted out at him before hitting the table with his fist.

"Life treated me like shit", Fox replied in a tired voice. "I'd just like to die, to forget about everything. I've been been hurting myself way too much mentally". He sighed and looked at the old wolf.

"No offense, but ya do look like shit son," the wolf said with a small smile on his face, "did a truck hit you along the way to here?"

_This guy smells like he took a bath in beer..._ Fox thought to himself. _And I'm the one to talk_, remembering how he stinks as well.

"Look, I got some business here and I really have to-" he said before being interrupted by the wolf.

"Naaah, fuck business, how 'bout a drink? Watch'a say son?", the wolf pulled his arm and grabbed him by the jacket. "Just one drink, please! I'm broke, help an ol' wolf out, will ya?!" The wolf said in a strong, ordering voice, hitting the table with his fist again.

_This guy is drunk as fuck..._ Fox thought to himself before violently jerking the old wolfs arm and ran towards the bartender. _Jesus Christ..._

As he was nearing the bartender, he could hear the old wolf shouting at him.

"Eyy, is that how you respect old people ya sack o' shit?! But thanks anyway, this'll hopefully be enough you jackass!", the wolf shouted loudly at him, waving his fist.

_Why is he thanking me? It makes no sense..._

As Fox finally got to the bartender, he saw a young husky, dressed in his usual bar clothes. He was busy washing wine glasses and didn't notice the fox who was behind him.

"Ahem". Fox cleared his throat to get the bartenders attention, who immediately turned around and saw him face to face.

"Oh, uh, sorry sir, didn't notice you there! Uh, my, uh, w-what can I get y-you?" The young husky asked nervously as if he saw a ghost.

"Whiskey... give me a bottle of whiskey, not in those small glasses, okay?", Fox said in his usual voice.

"Sir, uh, we don't... we don't serve whiskey in glasses... er, I mean, uh, w-we serve them in glasses, but we don't serve them in bottles...".

_Is this guy gonna die from a heart attack?_ Fox thought to himself.

Noticing the huskies weird behavior, Fox raised an eyebrow and was about to ask him a question, but he was stopped by the husky himself.

"Uh, never mind sir, o-one bottle of whiskey coming up!"

The bartender pulled out a full bottle of whiskey from underneath the table, unscrew the bottle cap and placed it in front of the fox.

"There you go, sir", the bartender said in a more calmed, less nervous voice. "Sorry, I'm new here and this is the first time I see a famous hero in my life".

"It's alright, I don't consider myself a hero anymore though, just a random fox with no life". Fox said, sighed, grabbed the bottle and started drinking.

The husky had a confused look on his face, both by how fast he was drinking the whiskey and how Fox was talking about himself. He wanted to ask him a lot of questions, but was scared to do so. Finally, he asked him:

"Uh, why sir? W-what happened?". Again, the husky asked in a nervous voice.

Fox kept drinking even after the young husky asked him a question. After a few seconds of silence, he put the bottle on the table and sighed.

"I made a mistake... which ruined my whole life...", he broke eye contact with the bartender and started looking at the whiskey bottle, as if he didn't want him to see the tears in his eyes. "I used to love a vixen. Really much. I kicked her out of the Great Fox team... and out of my life...", he took another sip out of the bottle, put it down on the table again and opened his mouth to say something, but he couldn't.

He wiped off tears that were now flowing down his cheeks with his jackets sleeve.

"Sir? Sir, are you alright?!" The husky asked him in a worried voice. "Is everything okay?"

He wiped his cheeks again and looked at him.

"Yeah... I'm okay... sort of... memories are fucking me up...", he said in an almost crying voice. "Bottoms up!"

He shook his head and started drinking again. The bartender looked at the bottle with his eyes wide open when he saw that it was empty.

"Ah... give me another one", he said while putting down the bottle in front of the husky. "This shit is good".

"Sir, are you sure that's a good id-"

"Just give me another bottle!", he shouted at the bartender before tilting his head down.

"Okay, okay, sorry sir, I didn't mean to-"

The husky accidentally pushed the bottle off the table, smashing it into pieces.

"Fuck! Dammit!", he shouted curses at the sight of broken glass on the floor in front of him. "Julia! Julia, get over here and clean up this mess!"

"Okay, I'll be right there, no need to yell at me!", a loud voice could be heard from the bar's bathroom.

_Clumsy piece of shit... can't even watch what he's doing..._ Fox thought to himself and let a smile form on his face.

_Well, he's new here I guess... not my thing to judge him for his actions..._

"I'll be right b-back sir, I just need to get more w-whiskey from the fridge, you drank the last bottle".

"Alright, just make it quick, kiddo", he said in an amused voice.

Confused, the bartender ran off into the kitchen, while a red furred vixen came out of the bathroom with a mop in one paw and a bucket in the other one.

"Stupid Kenny always breaking shit, this is the fourth thing he smashed this week!", the vixen kept mumbling to herself while picking up pieces of broken glass and putting them into the bucket, without noticing Fox standing in front of the table.

"I wish he'd more be care-" her mumbling was interrupted when she lifted her head up and saw the orange furred fox. "Oh my god... you're Fox McCloud!", the vixen screamed in a delighted voice, causing nearby customers to look at her.

Fox noticed that. He put his right paw over his face so that no one could see him.

"Can you be quiet for gods sake?!", furiously, the vulpine looked at her. "I'm pretty sure that half of the fucking city heard you!"

The happy look on the vixen's face now turned to an angry look. "Oh, excuse me, I didn't know that you were ashamed of other people seeing you, I thought that you were used to people liking you!"

The vixen picked up the bucket and the mop and started walking towards the bathroom when she turned around and looked at the confused and still furious vulpine.

"By the way, you stink more than this whole freaking bar, consider taking a bath sometimes, sweety". She ran into the bathroom as fast as she could after saying that.

_What the hell is wrong with her?! Just because someone doesn't want to be seen by others doesn't mean that she needs to make so much fucking drama about it!_ the vulpine kept thinking to himself and cursing the young vixen.

The bartender got back from the kitchen, carrying a big bottle of whiskey.

"Back! Sorry it took so long, co-worker misplaced the bottle somewhere". He opened the bottle and gave it to the vulpine. "There you go, sir".

The husky immediately looked at the floor after giving the whiskey to the vulpine.

"Ah, I see Julia cleaned up the mess I made", the husky said in a surprised voice. "How nice of her!"

"She also freaked out when she saw me here. She screamed so loudly that everyone in the bar would have thought that she's getting killed", the vulpine said jokingly.

The husky started laughing when he heard that. "Hehe, she's always like that when she sees someone famous. After all, we don't get many famous people in here, especially not heroes!"

"Hero my ass..." he said, taking another sip of the whiskey. "I was never a hero and I never will be one".

"Don't be so harsh on yourself", the husky said in a friendly voice. "Also, you were telling me why your life went downhill, remember?"

"Yeah, I was", he said. "You still interested in that stupid story kid?" He was starting to get annoyed by the amount of attention he was getting from him, but he felt the urge to talk to someone, someone who would listen to him and understand him.

"Well, we've got plenty of time to talk, don't we?". The husky looked at his clock. "Hell, it's only three o'clock!"

_Three o'clock? I thought it was morning..._

"Alright, alright, I'll tell you the story", he said and took another sip from the bottle. "It's not really interesting, ya know".

"Anyway, to make a long story short, I kicked off a vixen called Krystal that I loved from the Great Fox. It broke our relationship and our hearts. She ran off with a guy called Panther. Her choice to love him more than me, but I'm... you know..."

"Jealous?", the husky interrupted him in a curious voice.

"Yeah... jealous...", he covered his face in embarrassment, which only made the husky laugh.

"Haha, there's more fish in the sea dude, if you caught one you can catch another one!", he said happily. "Don't worry, things will get better!"

"Hopefully, they will", he said and faked a smile.

_Bullshit_, he thought to himself.

The bartender got back to washing wine glasses that he started earlier.

Curiously, Fox turned around to see if the old wolf was still there. He was. He had a small object in his paw, but Fox couldn't see what it was, and he definitely didn't want to approach him and find out. The old wolf saw him and waved at him. Fox quickly turned around to avoid any further eye contact with him. He kept wondering who he was and why he acted like that earlier. It made sense to him that he's a drunk old wolf and that he WILL act weirdly, but he felt like something was wrong.

"Hey, hey kid?", he said and slightly tapped the table with the whiskey bottle.

The young husky turned around.

"Yes, sir?", he asked politely.

"Do you know wh-"

"You done with that whiskey?", the husky suddenly interrupted him.

"Uh, well..."

_I think I had enough alcohol for today..._ he thought to himself and placed the bottle in front of the bartender.

"Yeah... I guess so... I'm done drinking for today".

"Alright", the husky said and placed the bottle under the table.

"Hey, do you know who's that black wolf with a hat behind me?", he asked. "He seemed quite weird earlier..."

The bartender leaned over the table and made a surprised look on his face when he saw the black wolf. "What is he doing here?", he mumbled.

"Hm?", the fox looked at him weirdly. "You know that guy?"

"Well, not really", he said. "We've seen him here quite a few times. He's really weird, he gets drunk and starts begging people for money. He even once grabbed one of our barmaid's and kissed her when he was drunk. Oh boy, did he get slapped!"

After hearing that, Fox started laughing out loud.

"So, he's a kinky customer, isn't he?"

"Aye, he claims he slept with more women than anyone else in this bar", the husky said and started chuckling.

"He claims he slept with more women than anyone here?", he asked. "No wonder that he looks like a wreck!"

Both started laughing out loud, especially Fox who found it hilarious that he's calling someone else a wreck when he looks like one himself.

"Ah, hold on, got tears in my eyes from laughing", the bartender said and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe the tears off his face. "Joking aside, you should avoid him though".

"Why?", the fox asked.

"Quite a lot of our customers have complained about getting their watches, wallets and money stolen from him", he warned Fox. "He lives off of that, I guess, stealing stuff from other people".

Then a thought jumped into Fox's head.

_What... did he rob me as well?! He grabbed my jacket!_

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on one fucking second!", the fox said and started checking the pockets on his jacket and trousers.

"Eh? Checking if he robbed you as well, aren't ya?", he husky giggled.

_ No... He did not..._

"Fucking hell! Where's my wallet!?", he shouted.

"He stole your wallet?", the husky asked him in a surprised voice.

"Yes, I think he did! God dammit!"

Furiously, Fox turned around to see where he was. But he wasn't there.

"He doesn't seem to be here!", the bartender yelled.

"Oh my god...", he said in a worried voice and leaned his head on his arms. "I had my ID and my money in there!"

"Better search for him, he was here a minute ago", the bartender suggested. "No need to pay for the two whiskey bottles, the drinks are on the house."

"Thanks, I'm off", the fox said and quickly ran towards the door and got outside.

* * *

Outside, the sun was shining. The rain has stopped. The streets were still wet, with a few puddles visible here and there. He felt a small breeze tickle his fur. It was quite windy.

He kept looking frantically left and right to see if the old wolf was still there.

He was gone. Gone with the wind, nowhere to be seen.

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**And that's it for the first chapter of this story!**

**Lemme know what you guys think about it! :)  
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	2. Drunk Memories

**Hey guys, Chase again, I managed to finish writting the 2nd chapter of this story. I think I managed to squeeze in around 700 to 800 words more into this chapter, so it's slightly bigger than my 1st one. ****Thanks to everyone for reviewing my first chapter, it really means a lot to me, especially constructive criticism like the one from . Again, thank you Jede for Beta reading this and correcting my mistakes and making sure that the dialogs make sense. P.S. - quite a lot of you said that you didn't understand Fox blurting out his story to the bartender. I did write out a line to explain why he did that in the 1st chapter, but I decided to further explain it as a part of the story in the ending of this chapter. Hope you enjoy this chapter!****  
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**Sweet Nothing  
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**Chapter 2 - Drunk Memories  
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* * *

He stood there, on the wet street, tottering around due to the amount of alcohol he drank. Moving left and right, he almost fell on the hard concrete but managed to grab a nearby lightpost to keep his balance. He was furious at the old wolf.

„Old sack of shit... what's he even... doing here...", he kept mumbling to himself, making long pauses between words. „He should be in a fucking... retirement home... not in a bar... stealing shit and kissing waitresses..."

He leaned over the road, lost contact with the lightpost and fell down in a small water puddle left over from the rain.

_Whooo! I'm wet!_ He thought to himself, letting out a small giggle.

He heard a sound. It sounded like a horn to him, but he wasn't sure. He looked right – nothing. He looked left – he saw a truck coming at him. The sound kept getting louder and louder, but instead of running to safety, he kept looking at the truck and smiled.

_Yes... yes!_

At the last moment, the truck driver swerved into the opposite lane and avoided the drunk fox laying down on the road, which made him extremely angry.

„Why... why didn't you end it there... why do I have to go through so much suffering?! Why... didn't you run me over and end my... my miserable life?! Why didn't you free me from these shackles... of guiltiness?!" he kept screaming out loud, hoping that someone would hear his cry for death.

But there was no one who could hear him. Everyone was inside their homes, out of the cold, moist weather. He kept looking at the truck, which was now a small dot on the horizon, cursing it.

„You fucking..." he trailed off, noticing his reflection in the water puddle under him. He kept starring at the puddle for several seconds, noticing the other fox in the water.

„Hello there... aren't you a pretty... face?", he said to himself. „On second thought...You're ugly as hell..."

He burst into laughter, realizing that it was him he was looking at. „Ahaha, I'll get up... too early to die, Foxy... besides... there are more... creative ways... to die...", still laughing, he barely got up and stumbled towards the wall of the pub, leaning his face against it.

„So dizzy...", he looked at the bar doors. „Woah... four doors? I saw only... two... before...". He made his way to the doors, noticing that the door knobs kept moving. „Fuck... they're moving!", he said to himself in a surprised voice.

He tried to grab one of the door knobs only to grab hold of nothing but brushing his hand against the wooden surface of the door. „It was there... I swear, it was... there!"

„Oh, I see... i'm seeing double!", he burst out laughing again, punching the door with his fist and looking through the small glass window on the door. „Kevin! Kevin, you sack o' shit... your whiskey... is a great drug!", he kept yelling at him through the door and laughing hysterical.

„I know you can hear me... I know you can... I know you..." he trailed off before falling down on the floor. "Should have... kept the bottle..." He felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, as if he was about to fall asleep.

_No.. you can't sleep here... go home Fox..._

„Where... is my home?", he asked himself curiously. „I think I live in a cardboard box...", chuckling, he managed to get up, leaning his whole body against the wall of the bar.

„Let's go Fox... one step at a time... you can do it...", he kept encouraging himself. „It's not that far away... I think"

Slowly, but surely, he was making his way towards his apartment which was a street away from the bar. Still drunk and still dizzy, he kept walking down the street, with his body leaned on the wall to prevent him from falling. He noticed that he was getting very cold, and started wondering why.

„I'm soaked...", he told himself and noticed that small drops of water were falling from the sleeves of his jacket. „At least I washed off... the touch from that old wolf... or something..."

He stopped and took off his jacket and looked at it closely. „Ha, didn't know I had so many holes in it!", he made a smile and started counting holes in his jacket.

„One... three, wait, no... two... did I say one...?", he kept pointing his finger at the holes in his jacket to count them, but he could barely think properly. „Four... five... ah, fuck it!", he said angrilly and shook the jacket to get rid of remaining drops of water on it.

_Where do I put this..._ he kept wondering, but different thoughts kept jumping into his head. _I'll probably tie it around my waist._

He did so and continued walking, but noticed that he's still cold. „It's f-freezing... at least i'm not wet... I think... and th-they say that alcohol makes you feel... hot... I drank two whiskeys and i'm cold as a... a fridge...", he said in a slightly shivering voice.

_That was a retarded comparison... _he thought to himself, before noticing a cold and wet feeling in his legs.

He bent down and noticed that his trousers were completely wet. „Can't take those off... or can I?" A thought jumped into his head that made him giggle.

_Now that would attract the ladies... then again, it would also attract the police..._

„Dammit... I'd rather sleep in my apartment... not in a jail cell...", finally a reasonable thought entered his head.

_I wonder if I have any beer in my apartment..._

* * *

Finally, he could see the building in which he lived. It was old and dirty, with chunks of the facade missing at certain parts. It only had four floors with no balconies and two small windows for each apartment. Fox's apartment could be easily recognized – it was the ugliest one. Since he had practically no money, he couldn't afford a better apartment. His apartment had only one window, since it was in the process of renovation before Fox moved in. It even had different colors. The whole buildings facade was colored green, but his apartment had a mixture of green and purple colors, with the exception of the facade around the windows which fell off, leaving huge chunks of grey colored concrete underneath them. The building wasn't the only thing that looked ruined. Left of the building were three dumpsters that were overflowing with trash, while some of the trash was scattered around them. The dumpsters were rusty, some even broken and with missing parts. The whole neighborhood in which Fox lived wasn't nice either. It had the unfriendly feel to it. He never felt safe walking through his neighborhood, so he'd spend most of the time in his apartment, either watching TV or laying on the bed.

_Home at last..._

Still dizzy, he made his way to the apartment's door and almost losing his balance due to the broken floor around the buildings entrance.

„Whoever made this shit... should fix it... before I break my leg...", a selfish thought, but he mostly cared about himself right now. In front of the door, he noticed a small text written out on a single piece of duct tape that was placed on the dirty plastic surface of the door.

„P-pull... or is it push...", he kept looking at the text closely, almost sticking his face to the door. „I... I can't remember... and I can't read either, heh..." As hard as he tried, he couldn't read the text, since everything he saw was doubled. „I think it's... push? Well... let's try and find out...", he grabbed the door knob and placed his shoulder on the door frame to push it, since the frame was very rusty and required force to be moved.

The first time he tried, the door wouldn't budge, the only noticable thing was a loud screeching noise coming from the door.

„Ya piece of shit!", he said angrilly and rammed the door violently, opening it and instantly loosing balance, since the amount of force he used was more than enough to open it. Tottering around, he failed to balance himself and he fell face first on the hard, broken up ceramic floor, loosing conscious.

* * *

_Foooox! Fox, wake up! Rise and shine, it's nine in the morning._

Slowly, he opened his eyes, only to see a beautiful, purple furred vixen sitting next to him. He observed the room around him. He could remember it clearly – it was his room on Great Fox!

_Krystal... Krystal, is that you?! Krystal!_

_Yes, my love, it's me. _

She giggled and leaned forward, giving the vulpine a soft kiss as she grabbed his paw firmly. It felt like he was in heaven and he wished that it would stay like that forever. But then, she broke contact with his lips and looked at him with her beautiful sapphire eyes with a cute smile.

_Krys- _

Before he could finish his thought, she put her finger on his lips and slowly kissed his forehead.

_Sshhh, Fox, be quiet._

She stood up, breaking eye contact with him before starting to slowly walk away from him towards what seemed like a black rectangle on the wall. Instinctively, he tried to get up to follow her, but he couldn't. He couldn't move any part of his body, it's like everything below his head was paralyzed. He watched her move closer to the dark opening.

_Krystal! Krystal, don't leave me! I'm sorry for everything I've done, don't leave me, please! Come back! _He said in a panicking and a begging voice.

She turned around, looking in his wide open eyes and put her hand on the black surface and slowly opened it as if it was a door. Fox was blinded by white light that flooded the whole room, which seemed to come from the black door.

_Fox. Wake up._

She said in a calm, soft voice with a loving smile on her face before breaking eye contact with him and entering the white light.

_KRYSTAL! COME BACK! PLEASE, DON'T LEAVE ME! NOOOO!_

After she disappeared, the light started swallowing the whole room, becoming brighter and brighter. Fox tried to scream for help, but he felt like his lips were glued shut. The white light flooded the room. Everything was quiet. Nothing could be heard. The silence was broken by a quiet whisper.

_Wake up, Fox, wake up._

* * *

He opened his eyes. Something cold was touching his left cheek. He moved his right arm up to his face to get up. He felt something warm on his paw. He looked at it and saw blood. He quickly stood up, almost falling down again, and looked at the floor. It was bloody.

_W-w-what the fuck?!_

Immediately, he felt a sharp pain in his head and nose. He grabbed his face with his left arm, only to notice blood on it.

„My head... I... i'm bleeding... w-what happened?"

He grabbed the hanging sleeve of his jacket and wiped his nose with it – blood. He hurt his nose in the fall which was now bleeding.

He looked up to see where he was. He saw stairs right in front of him. He turned around. He saw an open door. He finally realized what happened.

„God... that was a hard fall...", he kept touching his forehead and felt a small bruise on it. „Fucking hell..."

_But... but what was that... dream? What was that? Where did Krystal come from?!_

Drunk, bloodied and bruised up, he decided to go to his apartment before injuring himself even further. Slowly, he made his way up the stairs, clenching the guardrail firmly with both hands. He lived on the third floor, it was a long walk. He kept thinking what to say to his neighbors if any of them saw him. They are used to seeing him drunk, but he never returned to his apartment with a bloody nose and a bruise on his forehead. The last thing he wanted to do was to explain how he got them. Although the small puddle of blood downstairs might make some people suspicious.

Finally, he got to his apartment, apartment number 7. He hated his apartment because of that. Number seven was supposed to bring him luck and happiness, both of which he never had in his life.

He placed his left paw next to the door while he searched his pockets for the apartments key.

„Where did I put it...", he kept talking to himself. „I hope that old asshole didn't steal it as well..." That thought sent shivers through his spine. „Ah, yes, here it is!", he finally found them in the left pocket of his trousers. It was an old, grey colored key with quite a bit of rust on it. It had the number seven pressed into the base of the key.

He tried putting the key into the keylock, but he was constantly missing. His eyes were tricking him into thinking that the keyhole was in a different position, just as he saw everything doubled.

_God dammit, come on!_

Finally, he placed it in the keyhole. He turned the key three times to the right, and heard a „click" sound.

_Home at last..._

He put his right hand on the knob and opened the door, but something caught his attention before entering the apartment. He looked at the left side of the door frame and saw a bloody print in the shape of his paw. It reminded him about his previous injury and his bloody nose, which, unfortunately, also reminded him of the pain which he didn't feel until now since he was busy searching for his key.

„I'll have to clean that up later", he said to himself before finally entering his apartment. „God, my head..."

* * *

It was a small apartment with only a living room in which the kitchen was located, a bedroom and a small bathroom. He was inside the living room which smelled like beer and was really messy. Clothes could be seen thrown on the floor, beer bottles and pizza boxes scattered everywhere around the room. The dishes were unwashed and were stinking of rotten food, the couch was full of filthy marks from food, mostly ketchup. The bedroom wasn't any better either. The bed didn't have any sheets on it. It was just a filthy mattress with a ripped pillow on one end and a small wooden cabinet on the left of the bed with a lamp and some framed pictures. The bathroom was a total mess. The toilet looked like it hadn't been flushed in ages, with a missing plastic seat. The bathtub had a rusty shower head hanging from the shower head holder. The shower wasn't usable, since the water pipes that led to the bathtub and the shower were ruptured and kept leaking inside the walls. The sink was probably the cleanest surface in the whole house. It still had the white color and the ceramic undamaged. There was a small cabinet with a mirror above the sink that was full of dust and lots of creams, mostly for shaving. There was a single edged razor as well, but it was rusty and full of orange hairs.

He untied his jacket and threw it on the dirty couch before heading straight for the bathroom. The bathroom didn't have a door, just like the bedroom. There was just a door frame for each room. They weren't really separated. As soon as he entered the bathroom, he pressed a small switch on the right side of the wall to turn on the light. A "click" sound could be heard and after a few seconds, the light turned on, although it kept flickering every few seconds. Fox was pretty much a cave bat in his apartment. He'd rarely turn on the lights to keep the monthly costs of renting the apartment as low as possible.

"So much blood…" he kept looking at the mirror in front of him and at his paws. He grabbed some toilet paper and wiped both of his paws with it and threw it in the sink. He got rid of some blood, but the majority of it already solidified on his fur. He turned on the water tap to rinse his face and his paws. Slowly, he started rubbing his nose with the ice cold water, dyeing the sink in red color. After a few minutes, the blood was gone. As painful as it was, he decided to take a towel and press it firmly against his nose to see if he was still bleeding. A few seconds later he removed the towel from his face and looked at it.

"A few drops of blood, but I think I'm okay… the bleeding stopped"

He turned off the water tap and threw the towel on a small piece of metal which looked like a toilet paper holder. Most of the time, he would place the toilet paper right next to the water tap, usually making it soggy and wet. He looked in the mirror again and noticed the small bruise above his left eye. He could still feel the pain, even though the ice cold water killed some of it.

"Crap… I better put some ice on that" he said while moving his fingers across the bump on his forehead.

He slowly turned around and pressed the switch to turn off the light and entered the living room. There was no need to turn on the light in the living room since there was some daylight outside coming through the one big window. The only window in his apartment.

"Huh… I don't feel dizzy anymore… I can walk properly now…" he noticed. "Either the cold water refreshed my brain or I'm becoming immune to alcohol", a smile formed on his face. "I'm probably becoming immune to alcohol".

He made his way to the fridge to see if there was anything frozen that he coud place on the bruise. He opened the fridge and looked inside.

"Hm… no frozen food… or any food for that matter…" He looked down at the ice compartment. "Eh… some ice… not much, but still enough to ease the pain." He looked around to see if there was anything that he could put the ice in. He saw an old plastic grocery bag.

_Perfect!_

He quickly picked up the bag and put several pieces of ice inside of it. Wrapping it up tightly, he placed it on his forehead, above his left eye.

_The things I'd do for a bottle of painkillers…_

* * *

He walked over to his room and sat on his bed. He could now walk, talk and see easily. Seemed like the alcohol didn't affect him anymore. It was still daylight, but he felt like going to sleep. Still sitting and still a little bit drunk, he saw a framed picture of Krystal on the cabinet next to his bed and picked it up.

"Oh baby, why do you keep entering my dreams? What was that earlier? Why did you walk away from me? I'm sorry for everything I've done, and I guess I deserve the mental torture.", he kept talking to the picture.

"I just wish that they'd last longer, so that I can see you more clearly, even if it's just a dream! It's painful when you're so close to me, yet so far away. I've changed so much since I kicked you off the team, I know that you're probably happier with Panther, but I still love you."

"I keep getting drunk just thinking about you, I even fell into a depression! I feel like killing myself at times, and that feeling intensifies when I get drunk. But I can't stop drinking, it's the only thing that can make me happy.", tears started flowing down his cheeks.

"I've got no one to talk to. Hell, I'll talk to anyone about my life, even to people that I don't know. I'm lonely, I don't have anyone. I feel better when I talk to someone, when I tell them my life problems and when they understand me…"

_Now I'm talking to a picture about my life problems…_

"I hope that one day we'll be together again", he kissed the picture and put it back on the cabinet. "Good night, my love".

He lied down on the bed, still holding the pack of ice on his forehead, slowly drifting away to sleep.

* * *

**And that's it for this chapter. Again, feel free to review the story, constructive criticism really helps me out. :)**


	3. Stealing to Survive

**Finally updated this, it wasn't really difficult, since I wrote this whole chapter on Monday. The main thing was that both me and Jede were very busy, so fixing all of the mistakes was quite hard, especially for Jede who had to fix all of the grammar/spelling mistakes (and there were so many of them that they'd make even the greatest spell checker self destruct) and weird sentencing by sending me the corrected DocX file. Usually, he'd fix/suggest improvements via the chat, but that was not an option this time. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed the story, it means the world to me and it's what really keeps me going with the whole writting crap. xD Sorry for the long wait, hope you enjoy the story**

**Sweet Nothing - Chapter 3  
**

**Stealing to Survive**

* * *

He heard a familiar voice in his dream. The soft, lovely voice of his beloved vixen.

_Wake up. Wake up, Fox. _

„No... don't wake me up just yet... I want to be with you..." he kept talking while sleeping, moving from one side of the bed to the other, as if he had a nightmare. But it was a beautiful dream, not a nightmare. „Where are you, my love? Come to me!"

_I'm here, Fox. I'm always here next to you. I'll never leave you... Wake up..._

He opened his eyes, noticing that he wass laying in the bed, with Krystal in front of him, staring right into his eyes with a cute and seductive smile. He recognized the room, his room on the Great Fox. It was the same setting as yesterday when he hit had his head and lost consciousness.

„No... you're not leaving me this time!", he said in a determined voice and ran towards her. „You WILL be mine!"

As fast as he ran, he wasn't getting closer to her. Instead, it seemed like he was getting further and further away from the vixen. She kept slowly disappearing in front of him.

„No! Krystal, come back!", he screamed and tried running even faster, but he couldn't move. Krystal already disappeared, he couldn't even see her in the distance anymore. „KRYSTAL! NOOOO!"

Suddenly, he felt like he was falling, like someone removed the ground beneat his feet. He felt a fast, blunt impact and immediately opened his eyes.

He was on the floor next to his bed.

It was morning and the sun was shining, although it wasn't noticeable from his bedroom. Not a single cloud could be seen in the sky. Birds could be heard outside, people talking, cars going up and down the street. It was a beautiful, morning. Unfortunately, it was a painful morning for Fox.

Still laying on the floor, he looked around, holding his head with his left paw. „I fell off my bed... God... that was such an abrupt ending to a dream..."

_A dream..._

He felt like crying. It seemed so real to him. He was so close to her. But so far away. His mind kept playing tricks on him. As much as he wanted to believe that all of it was real, it wasn't. It was just a bad dream. To him, it was a nightmare not being able to see her and hold her firmly in his grasp. A nightmare that kept repeating itself every night. A nightmare that would end in disappointment, tears and, in this case - pain.

_How much longer will I have to go through this?!_

He stood up and started walking towards the living room, when something caught his eye on the bed. There was a big stain on it, although different from the other ones. This one looked like a water stain.

„I... did I piss myself from that dream?", he said to himself in a surprised voice. „Pretty sure I didn't...", a small blush appeared on his face.

„Wait... that must be from that bag of ice... the ice probably melted and leaked out on the bed...". He looked on the right side of the bed and noticed the small plastic bag in which he put the ice yesterday. It was ruptured. He then noticed that his shirt was wet. „Great... just what I needed". He let out a sigh and started walking towards his bathroom, taking off the shirt along the way and throwing it on the couch. As soon as he entered the bathroom, he looked himself into the mirror and noticed that the bruise on his forehead was gone. But he still felt pain. He had a headache. A big one.

„Ah, stupid hangover... and stupid me", he insulted himself, knowing that It's his fault for drinking too much in the bar yesterday. „And no painkillers. Great!"

He walked out of the bathroom and into his living room before getting blinded by bright light. He put his right paw in front of his eyes and slowly approached the window. Finally, after his eyes got used to the bright light, he looked outside. „Well, at least the sun is shining. Finally something that's not depressing."

He felt cheerful and happy for some reason. He hadn't felt like that in a while. He even got used to the nightmares with Krystal, and to drinking constantly. Finally, he felt better mentally, even though the hangover was killing him physically.

„I wonder what's on TV", he said to himself, walking over to the couch and picking up the remote controller. It had laid there for quite a while, since Fox didn't watch TV that much. He'd usually be outside, intoxicating himself with alcohol. He picked up the remote controller and noticed how it was dirty. It had small pieces of food on the buttons and was quite greasy. „Ew...I completely forgot how disgusting this thing is...". He picked up the shirt that he threw on the couch earlier and wiped the controller with it. Huge, greasy stains were on the shirt after that, which he threw on the floor before proceeding to sit on the couch.

He kept mashing the „On" button to turn the TV on since it was broken as well. Angry and drunk, he would sometimes throw objects against the wall. The remote controller was, sadly, the unlucky object that he kept smashing most often.

Finally, the TV turned on, revealing a football scene on the TV. It was a sports channel.

„Nope", he said to himself, changing the channel. This time, it was a movie channel. There was a kissing scene between a Bulldog and a female Husky. It kept reminding him of Krystal, so he changed the channel again. It was a news channel. „Finally something informative", he put the remote controller on his lap and started stretching out, followed by a loud yawn.

_Good morning everyone! It is now 9:00 AM and you're watching Cornerian News Central , we've got some big news for you today!_

_The famous Cornerian couple Krystal and Panther are making a two week visit to the city of Tontassia as a part of their tour around the solar system! The couple will arrive in their private space craft on Thursday at 2 PM CCT. There will be a small press confference before the couple gets driven off to their private mansion somewhere in the suburbs of the city._

„She.. she's coming to my town?!", he said in a surprised voice and stood up, making the remote controller fall on the floor. „Yes! I'll finally be able to see her for real now!". A huge smile stretched across his face as he almost started dancing across the room from happiness. „But wait... she's coming with that Panther asshole...", the happines suddenly turned into anger and the huge smile that he previously had on his face was now gone.

„God dammit, how will I be able to see her if she's with him?!", he kept talking to himself in a worried voice while rapidly walking across the room. „He'll kick my ass, knowing how much he hates me...", he stopped walking and stood there in front of the TV, thinking about something.

_I kicked Krystal out of the team... why does he hate me for that? What did I do to him?!_

„And Krystal probably won't want to see me either because of that...", the reality slowly started to sink in. He sat on his couch and rested his head on his arms, letting out a huge sigh. „Ah... nothing's simple in my life...". Immediately, his attention was brought back to the TV, when he saw Krystal and Panther in the news report. They were both close to each other, with Panther having one hand curled up around Krystal's body. Krystal was dressed in a beautiful green dress with sparky emeralds on the edges of it. Panther had a tuxedo and was dressed pretty much like he was on a wedding. The view behind them looked like an airport.

„So, how do you both feel now?"The news report asked them.

„We're excited! It's been an amazing trip so far. We are tired, but we'll make it. The trip to Tontassia is the last part of our journey before we head back to our home on Titan",Krystal explained.

„Yeah, we definitely are tired. I mean, our space craft isn't as spacious as our home back on Titan. It's quite crammed, actually. Besides, moving from one planet to another gets annoying over time", Panther followed in an annoyed voice.

„Hum, you don't seem very happy regarding your situation...", the reported said in a surprised voice. „Is everything okay or are you just tired?"

„What kind of question is that? Of course i'm okay, i'm just tired from so much traveling. You never traveled for several weeks without taking a break, did you?", Panther replied in an almost offended voice, scolding the reporter with his sharp look.

„Uh, sorry sir, I didn't mean to be offensive-„, he got interrupted by Panther.

„Whatever, just hurry up with your questions". Noticing his behavior, Krystal pushed him softly with her right arm, getting a weird facial expression from Panther. Before he managed to say anything to her, the reporter continued talking.

„Uh, alright... one last question. This one's very popular among the public and our viewers wanted us to ask you this. So, Krystal, how do you feel like going to Tontassia, knowing that FoxMcCloud lives there?", the reporter said in a frantic voice, like he was worried that something would happen.

Hearing the question, Krystal made a surprised look on her face, opening her mouth to say something before being interrupted by Panther's reaction. „Alright, that's enough questions for her, we are done with this interview! Let's go Krys". Very upset and angry, Panther suddenly pushed off the camera with his right arm, pulling Krystal to him with his left one. They got out of the cameras now changed shooting angle in a hurry. Immediately after that, the reporter got in front of the camera.

„Uh, anyway, that's it for this... interview. Remember, Krystal and Panther are coming to Tontassia on Thursday. Over to you Miguel" the reporter said in a confused, almost scared voice. „Okay, thank you Mike. I think we're all quite surprised by the reaction that question attracted. Anyway, in our other news..."

„Huh, that son of a bitch still has his kinky ol' attitude. He doesn't seem friendly at all.", Fox kept mumbling to himself. „I wonder if he's that aggressive to Krystal as well...", a thought that made the fur on his body stiffen up. He shook his head and pushed the thought away.

„Ugh, I don't even want to think about that... still, I'm gonna be there when she arrives, no matter what! I want to talk to her, even if that means that I'll have to cope up with Panther beating the shit out of me", he said in a determined voice. He picked up the remote controller from the floor and quickly turned off the TV. „Thursday, 2 PM. That's in... two days! I'll be there, Krystal!"

Still occupied with the fact that Krystal was going to arrive at his town on Thursday, he failed to notice that he was hungry. His attention was quickly shifted to that, after feeling pain in his stomach and hearing a quiet growl. „Well... I haven't eaten anything in days... guess I'll have to occupy my mind with that instead of Krystal for now". Throwing the remote controller on the couch, he made his way to the fridge. He approached the fridge's door with his right paw but immediately pulled it back, as if he touched fire. „Ah, no need to look in there for food. It's empty", he remembered.

„And my wallet is gone as well... not that I had much money in it, but it would still be enough for me to buy something to eat...", he said to himself in a disappointed voice, remembering the old wolf that snatched it from him. „The only thing I can do is steal now...", he felt uncomfortable saying that, knowing how famous he was and how money was not an issue before. But it's different now, he literally had to steal to survive. „Guess I'll make my way to Foxmart... and steal something... ugh". He picked up his jacket that was laying on the couch and threw it on before making his way to the door. As soon as he opened the door, a thought jumped into his mind.

„Didn't I lock the door on my way in yesterday?", he thought to himself before looking at the keyhole. The key was still in it. „How smart of me", he said in a sarcastic voice and pulled out the key with his right paw, placing it in the pocket on his trousers. „Good thing that I didn't get robbed last night... or killed... wait, I should lock the door now... God, I'm an idiot", Cursing himself, he took the key out and locked his apartments door before placing it back in his pocket. „There we go, it should be safe now".

He walked down the stairs before approaching the entrance of the building. A small red stain on the floor left of the stairs caught his eye. It was his blood from yesterday when he fell on the floor. „No one noticed that?", he asked himself. „Or maybe they did, but they didn't want to clean it up. Whatever". He opened the door and got outside, noticing the warm and sunny weather. „Hm, it must be early in the morning...", he kept looking at the sun squinting. „It's quite low on the horizon". He continued grocery store wasn't that far away, it was very close to his apartment, just a street away. After walking for a few minutes, he could see the groccery store. It was big ans spacious with a red „Foxmart" sign on top of it. The bottom of the letter „F" was curled like a fox's tail. It was a nice store with friendly staff. He knew most of them, so it was hard for him knowing that he'd have to steal from such nice people. Still though, he had to make a plan. He could just walk in and take what he needed, but he was afraid that the store's staff might notice him stealing things. It would be a huge embarrassment for him. A famous war hero stealing stuff from stores?! It was preposterous! If it ended up in the news, he couldn't walk out on the street, knowing that everyone would consider him a pitiful punk who steals stuff for a living.

Before approaching the sliding door of the groccery store, he first looked through the windows to see if there was anyone who would notice him. Luckily for him, the cashier wasn't there. He pulled on his hoodie and pushed his paws deep inside the pockets of his jacket. As soon as he stood in front of the door, it slid open.

_Alright, I'll just grab some food then I'm out of here, _he thought to himself. _And maybe some painkillers for my head..._

He kept walking through the store quickly, looking at the signs above the shelves. He was searching for the „Food" sign. He saw it and had an arrow pointing to the right, so he turned right and saw heaven for a hungry fox. It had all sorts of food – chicken, noodles, fruits, etc. He thought fast, looking at what was the easiest thing to steal. He looked inside of the freezer that was left of him and noticed a can of potted chicken meat.

_Since when did they put chickens into cans? Ah, whatever! I'll take it._

Before picking up the can, he looked left and right to see if there was anyone who could see him. No one could see him, he was pretty much all alone. It was early morning anyway, so there weren't many customers. Looking left and right again to make sure that he's safe, he quickly took the can of potted chicken meat and placed it inside of his jacket, right next to his body.

„Ah!", he let out a loud moan. The can fell on the floor, making a loud sound, rolling over and bumping into a nearby shelf. He felt pain in his chest. But it wasn't the usual pain. He felt like something very cold was placed against his fur. He didn't have a shirt on, he only had a jacket.

_Ah, fuck! How did I forget to put my shirt on?!_

He heard footsteps and they were approaching fast, but he didn't know from where, which only made it worse for him. He started panicking, his brain kept processing hundreds of thoughts. As fast as he could, he bent down, picked up the can of meat and placed it firmly against his fur before putting his jacket over it and clenching it tightly. It was cold as ice, but he had to go through the pain unless he wants to get caught by the stores staff. He quickly turned around, facing the freezer and started acting like he was looking at the food. His heart was racing, almost to the point that he thought that he'd get a heart attack.

_Please don't notice me, please don't notice me _he kept thinking to himself, while biting his lower lip with his teeth and clenching the jacket even harder.

He could hear the footsteps clearly now. Whoever that was, it was behind him. He wanted to take a look, but he didn't want to risk exposing his face to the person behind him. To his surprise, the person kept walking very fast. Someone would think that the person was actually dancing.

„Charlie, sweety, get over here!", he heard an angry female voice behind him, which made his urge to look behind him even stronger. He decided to take a peek, slowly looking behind his shoulder. He saw a red vixen approaching a small kit. The young kit held a balloon and kept walking around the shelves as if he was playing. „Charlie, get over here, don't make your mom angry!" He recognized the face on the vixen. It was Julia from the bar.

_Fuck, I can't let her see me, she'll recognize me in a second._

Still looking at the freezer, he started walking to the left, avoiding eye contact with the red vixen who was still chasing down her kit. Perfect distraction. Once again, he took a small peek behind his shoulder – he couldn't see both the vixen nor the kit, although he could still hear her yelling at her child. He let out a sigh.

_That was close..._

He didn't want to go back there and try to get another can of meat. One was enough for him, and he didn't want to risk it again. By the time the whole situation ended, he barely noticed that he was holding a cold, metal can next to his fur. It wasn't so painful anymore, he got used to it. There was now one last thing that he wanted to take. Painkillers. He kept searching for a „Medicines" sign, not realizing that he was already in the medicines department.

_Ah, there we go._

He started looking for the bottle of painkillers. He didn't have to remember the name of the medicine, since the store labeled them as „Painkillers", they didn't exactly have a fancy name for them. After all, he was in a groccery store, not a pharmacy. He knew exactly where they were, since this was not the first time that he had bought painkillers. He'd always visit this store a night after getting drunk to buy a bottle of painkillers. The difference being that he was stealing them now. He saw the painkillers, they were on the bottom right corner of the shelf. It was a small bottle, perfect for him to place it in his trousers pocket. Without looking around to see if someone was watching him, he grabbed the bottle of painkillers and stuffed it in the right pocket of his trousers, right next to his keys.

_Finally! That's it!_

A small smile formed on his face, knowing that he had what he needed now. He started walking to the exit of the grocery store, looking down at the floor to avoid eye contact with anyone and pressing a small spot on his jacket where the can was located to prevent it from falling down. However, near the door, he noticed that the cashier was back at his work place. He lifted his left arm up and looked behind his wrist. He was pretending like he looked at his wristwatch. Soon, he started running towards the door, like he was in a hurry. It was still morning, he was hoping that the cashier would interpret that as him being late for work. He ran past the cashier and through the door, looking at his wristwatch again to make it even more realistic. He slowed down his pace, walking normally again with a big smile on his face.

„My God, that was stressful..." he said in a relieved voice and let out a loud sigh. He was safe now. Although he still felt bad for what he did, he didn't care anymore. He was a mercenary. Life taught him to get whatever he wants the way he could. Even if he had to steal.

Now that he got what he needed, he made his way back to his apartment, almost running towards it. He was so hungry that he felt like eating the meat on the street. He got in front of the building, opened the door and started walking upstairs. As soon as he got to his apartment, he got his keys out and unlocked the door.

_Yes, finally home, finally able to eat!_

He walked over to the fridge, opened it and placed the can of meat inside of it. He then put the bottle of painkillers on the counter while filling a glass with water. He quickly opened the bottle, taking three tablets and popped them into his mouth before gulping down the water. Not only was he hungry, but he was thirsty as well. The last thing he drank was the whiskey from yesterday.

„That felt good, and hopefully the painkillers will kill this hangover", he said to himself before remembering what else he stole. The can of chicken meat. „Oh boy, this is going to be a feast!" he said in a very happy and excited voice while licking his lips.

_So hungry!_

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**And that's it, hopefully the next update will come much faster than this one. xD**_  
_

**Also, i'm probably gonna reply to future reviews via the AN in my chapters, since some of the reviews really put a smile on my face, especially LaaraWolf's reviews. xD  
**

**Thanks for reading and catch ya'll later! 3  
**


	4. Fights and Apologies

**Aaaand... updated! Sheesh, that took a while, around a week since my last update. This time, it wasn't Jede's fault, it was my fault since I kinda fell into a writers block. Because of that, this chapter is 1/2 of my previous chapter - about 2000 words shorter. Even though I have school and quite a few tests, I'll try my hardest to make the next chapter much longer and, hopefully, "wiggle" my way out of this writers block. :/ Anyway, like always, huge thanks goes to Jede for Beta reading this and fixing the mistakes, even though this chapter had the least amount of grammar/spelling mistakes out of all the previous ones. 0_0 As promised, I'll reply to future reviews via the AN, so scroll down if you're interested in that. Enjoy!****  
**

**Sweet Nothing - Chapter 4.  
**

**Fights and Apologies  
**

* * *

I-I-O-I-I

Still in shock due to Panther's behavior, she kept following him towards the exit of the building. They were in Cornerian's News Network headquarters, where the interview took place. The couple was invited to an interview by the networks boss himself, but nobody expected it to go like this. Several meters from the exit, she grabbed his paw to get his attention.

„What the hell is wrong with you?!", she yelled at him. The anger could be seen in her eyes. „Why do you keep acting like this?! Every time someone mentions Fox, you have a mental breakdown!", she kept yelling at him anything that she could think of, even if some of it was exaggerated. „Can't you fucking act civilized?!"

The way she kept talking to him made him even more angry. He jerked his arm in order to pull free from her grip. „You think it's easy for me to stay calm whenever someone mentions that fucking name?! It's in every fucking interview and you know how much I hate him!", he kelt yelling even louder at her, making her back off slowly. „I'm also sick of this fucking travel from one planet to another, what's the god damn point?! To exhaust us until we die?" Noticing how she was slowly backing off, he stopped yelling and let out a sigh. He looked around to see if there was anyone who would have noticed them arguing. Thankfully, they were in a hallway, there was nobody else close to them, but the yelling would attract attention from the workers in the building sooner or later. „Let's just...", he trailed off, turning around and looking at the world outside. „Let's just get to the car, okay? We'll talk about it later", he said in a much calmer voice this time and opened the buildings door, making his way outside, not turning around to see if Krystal was following him.

Still in shock, she stood there, not knowing if she should follow him. His behavior was a huge, unpleasant surprise for her. She never saw him act like this before. Knowing that staying in the building would just attract more attention from the journalists, she went outside, looking around for Panther. He was already close to their black limousine on the parking lot. She started walking towards the limo as fast as she could, worrying that he might leave her alone for whatever reason, but she couldn't really run towards the car because of her long, green dress.

_What in the world is wrong with him?!_

Panther already got inside of the vehicle, sitting on the back seat, while their private driver turned on the car. Few seconds later, she got to the car as well, placing her paw on the doors handle, as if she was going to open them, but she didn't. She just stood there next to the door, contemplating whatever or not she should enter the car, worried that he might be aggressive to her. Her train of thought was interrupted by the grim look on Panther's face, it looked like he was urging her to get in. She had no choice, she couldn't stay outside. Biting her lower lip, she decided to enter the car. She pulled the handle and got inside of the car, avoiding eye contact with Panther. Noticing that parts of her dress were hanging outside of the limo, she grabbed it and pulled it inside before closing the door. Still in fear that he would hurt her, she didn't look at him. Instead, she kept looking at a bottle of champagne in front of her.

„Where to, sir?" the awkward silence was broken by the voice of the limo driver.

„To our home, where else?", Panther replied in a harsh voice.

„Okay sir", the limo driver said and started driving towards the exit of the parking lot. It became silent again, making Krystal nervous. She didn't know what to do and what to expect. She was expecting Panther to say something first. An apology, for example. After all, it was him who freaked out, not Krystal. She felt something warm on her left paw. She slowly looked down, only to see Panther's paw.

„Krystal... please forgive me for what I did back there...", Panther said while firmly grabbing Krystal's left paw. „I didn't meant to upset you, I'm sorry." She got the apology that she wanted, but she knew that it wasn't a honest apology. Still, it was better than nothing.

„I forgive you...", Krystal replied quietly. „But please... work on your temper, okay?" She finally looked at him, seeing a confused look on his face. She turned her head down, looking at Panther's paw.

„Okay, I will... don't see why, but still... okay", he replied in a confused voice, looking around the limo, like he was searching for something. „As long as people don't mention that idiots name, I'll be fine". He let go of Krystal's paw and picked up two champagne glasses. „Mind giving me that champagne over there?", he asked and pointed his finger at the bottle. She looked up and grabbed it, handing it over to Panther. The bottle was already opened and about half drank. „Thanks", Panther replied before pouring the champagne into the glasses. „Come on, cheer up" he said and gave one glass of champagne to her with a smile on his face.

„Thanks. I guess..." she said before taking a sip of the drink. „By the way, why do you always get frustrated when someone mentions Fox?" she asked him curiously, but regretted the decision several seconds later, worried that it might make him angry again.

„Why I get angry? Pfft, would you get angry if someone kept mentioning a name that you hate from the bottom of your heart?", he asked in a louder voice before drinking the whole champagne from the glass in one take. „That son of a bitch deserves to die...", he said while placing the champagne glass on a small table left of him.

„Why... why do you hate him so much?", Krystal asked again, noticing that he didn't get _too _angry at the previous question, so she hoped that he wouldn't get angry at this one either. „He never did anything to you, did he?"

„No, he didn't, but he did do something to you – he kicked you off the freaking team, for gods sake!", Panther replied in a slightly upset voice. „If someone hurts you, they hurt me as well" he explained. „I ain't gonna let nobody hurt or upset you."

_Then why did you upset me earlier, Panther? _she kept wondering.

„Sir, we're here!", the driver said, stopping the car next to a huge villa.

* * *

It was an enormous villa on a private property with sand colored walls and two floors. It had three big balconies and a huge drive way in front which was closed off by a big metal gate that automatically opens once a car approaches it. Of course, the gate was programmed so that only cars that were on the property could drive in and out, cars that weren't on the property had to wait for permission from the property owner – Panther, in this case. Around the gate and the villa were big patches of green grass with lots of different colored flowers and beautiful bushes that were cut out into different shapes. One bush was cut out into a heart and another one into a statue and so on. The villa also had a huge in-doors swimming pool as well as a beautiful view of the city below, since the whole property was located on a small hill several miles out of the town. It was quite an expensive house that Panther bought for him and Krystal after Fox kicked her out of the team. It had everything that they needed and more, although it was too big for a small couple like them.

* * *

The driver got out of the car and started walking towards Panther's door. He opened it and stood like a statue next to the door, allowing Panther to get out of the vehicle.

„Thank you John", he said in a happy voice with a big smile on his face. „Getting back to the good old gentleman roots, eh?". The driver closed the door and turned around to face Panther. He gave him a slight nod with his head before getting back to the drivers seat. Krystal was watching all of it from inside of the limo. She was expecting Panther to open her door so that she can get out. Instead, Panther started walking towards the entrance of the villa. Seeing that made Krystal's face change expressions. She was now angry, since she expected Panther to be a true gentleman and open the door for her. She opened the door herself and got out.

„Thanks for being such a gentleman, sweety!", she yelled at Panther in a sarcastic voice. Panther looked behind his shoulder and gave her a small smile.

_Asshole..._

Krystal closed the door and walked over to the front end of the car before turning around and giving a hand signal to the driver, indicating that he can drive off now. The driver waved to Krystal before driving to a nearby garage. After that, Krystal made her way to the villa, noticing that Panther already got inside since the doors were left open, like usual. He'd always forget to close the doors after entering the house. She got used to it over time though. The villa had huge brown oak doors with gold plated door knobs. They didn't exactly have any other use than being fancy on the door. She got inside of the house and closed the door.

* * *

The villa seemed even bigger inside than the outside, it was huge and had an open plan. Left of her was the kitchen with a small bar and a huge fridge. The counter tops were made out of grey granite with big silver sinks and utensils everywhere. Right of her was the living room with five leather couches and a big plasma TV. The first floor had red carpets everywhere except for the kitchen, giving the impression that the owners were inside of a king's castle. Several meters in front of her were the stairs that led to the second floor. The guardrail was made out of wood with beautiful carvings on them that went well with the red carpet. The walls were sand colored, just like the facade outside with big windows which were often separated by huge framed pictures of Panther and Krystal.

The first thing she noticed when she got inside was Panther who was in the kitchen.

„Panther, what are you doing?", she asked curiously and started to approach him. „Oh, hi Krys, didn't notice you. Did ou close the doors on your way in?" he asked before leaning over and looking at the door with a smile on his face.

„Yes, I did..." she replied with an annoyed look on her face. „Anyway, what are you doing?"

„I'm preparing some martiny, you want some?", he asked while grabbing some ice from the fridge.

„No thanks, the champagne was good enough. I didn't even drink it completely, I left it in the car" she said before walking to the stairs.

„Alright then", he replied in a cheerful voice, like he forgot how he acted half an hour ago. „By the way, where are you going?"

„I'm gonna go to my bedroom and take a nap, I'm tired." she said while walking up the stairs and holding the guardrail with her left paw and her green dress with the right one.

„Okay, sweet dreams my dear".

_Who could have sweet dreams after the shit you've done today?_

When she got to the second floor, she turned left and started walking towards their master bedroom. She opened it and got inside the bed room which had a huge bed with a window above it and a bathroom right next to the entrance door. Without taking off her dress, she went straight for the bed and lyed there, letting out a sigh.

„I don't want to imagine what will happen when we get to Tontassia... I just know that Fox will be there...", she kept talking to herself in a tired voice. „If Panther sees Fox, there will be blood everywhere...", a thought that made her shiver. „Ah, why does everything have to be so complicated?"

* * *

**And that's it for this mini chapter!**

**Jedelas: **_Some of the humor is done on purpose, I didn't exactly want this to be a serious drama story without anything funny. Let's face it, even the best drama movies have SOME humor, don't they? Then again, this is a fanfic, not a movie... :P_

**LaaraWolf: **_You're welcome for the mention, lol. And indeed, Fox is a meany, but at least he's a Sly Fox. :P_

**bryan mccloud: **_Sometimes, life makes us do things that we'd consider unimaginable. As for reporting the wallet... well... no comment on that... yet...__  
_

**LnCpl. Luke Tamaken**: _Thanks for the constructive criticism man! Also, about the grammar part. I make quite a lot of those mistakes, mainly due to the fact that I live in a country in which English isn't a native language, It's a language that we learn in school. So, because of that, writing this fanfic makes it even a bigger challenge for me. xD_

**Bearybeary: **_Don't we all? He's heart broken, poor guy doesn't know what to do with his life anymore. :/_

**The Krystal Method: **_Maybe things WILL get better eventually, and maybe they won't. Also, I'm best at writing dialogues, especially if they're drunk dialogs, LOL._

**Twilit Smash Nova: **_Looks like someone had a lot of fun reading this, judging by your review. xD And, seeing how many people like the drunken dialogues, I' think I'm gonna make them more frequent in the future chapters. :D__  
_

**Again, thanks to everyone who reviewed and for still reading this newbie fanfic. Catch ya'll later! 3**_  
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